Sensationalist accounts of the relationship between religion and secularism tend to depict the two as locked in combat, profoundly incompatible in their worldviews. By addressing the concept of ‘Christian Europe’, this discussion explored the connections between the Christian legacy and the Enlightenment values which underpin secularism. In so doing, it aimed to provide both a more nuanced account of the relationship between religion and secularism, and a clearer sense of how religious and secular approaches inflect our experience and understanding of the world.

What is the self? Should we turn to philosophy, psychology, or science in order to better understand it? Does the self even exist? In this panel, three thinkers responded to scientific claims that the self is an illusion, exposing the philosophical problems which such claims conceal. Returning us instead to the experience of selfhood, the speakers discussed alternatives both to reductive scientific accounts and to traditional philosophical concepts of the self.

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Forum for Philosophy

Forum for Philosophy is a non-profit organization promoting philosophy. We host events, produce podcasts, and publish an essay series to showcase the work of contemporary academic philosophers from all philosophical traditions, often in conversation with each other and with academics from other disciplines. In all of our activities, we promote thought-provoking discussion of science, art, and politics from a philosophical perspective.

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Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics and Political Science
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philosophy-forum@lse.ac.uk

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